A photo released last week from the estate of the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shows former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak sitting next to Epstein in the company of billionaire Thomas Pritzker, director Woody Allen and magician David Blaine.
The undated photo, in which Epstein appears to rest his hand on Barak’s chair, is one of the dozens of photos that Democrats in the U.S. Congress on Thursday released from the estate of Epstein, who died in custody in 2019, in what prison authorities said was a suicide.
The photos and other documents released were part of the latest tranche of files released to the public about Epstein, who had close ties with many billionaires and world leaders. Those ties, as well as Epstein’s death before he stood trial, have sparked speculations of cover-ups on behalf of accomplices of Epstein, who was arrested and charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.
In March, both Barak and Ehud Olmert, another former Israeli prime minister, were listed as associates of Epstein in a previous batch of declassified filed released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Other Israelis listed in the declassified documents included Arik Gutman, Avi Gil, Efrat Evani Duud, Elisa Eshed and Neima Yakhof.
Neither the photo released on Thursday nor the documents published in March contained proof implicating any of the people mentioned or seen in the files in the crimes attributed to Epstein.
According to previous reports, Barak visited Epstein at least 36 times between 2013 and 2017. The meetings came well after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution.
However, Barak has claimed he was unaware of Epstein’s activities. He later said he regretted having a relationship with Epstein.
Two additional photos released on Thursday show Epstein sitting aboard what appears to be an executive jet plane next to Noam Chomsky, an American linguist, an outspoken anti-Zionist who has said Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is worse than Apartheid South Africa’s treatment of blacks.
Epstein is known to have flown a private jet to Little Saint James, a small private island in the United States Virgin Islands, southeast of Saint Thomas. Epstein hosted guests there and, allegedly, they would have sex with victims of Epstein’s human trafficking activities. Epstein’s plane, which flew to the island and back, was dubbed “The Lolita Express.”
Chomsky, 97, has previously appeared in Epstein-related documents, including correspondence about academic and personal matters. In an email, Epstein invited Chomsky and Chomsky’s wife to his island.
Chomsky previously told The Wall Street Journal that Epstein had helped him move money between his accounts, but said he received no money from Epstein in return. “I knew him and we met occasionally,” Chomsky said of Epstein.
